Julie Rowe played shop as a little girl in her sister’s room growing up in Jacksonville because she says she “always dreamed and envisioned of having a place (retail store) of my own down here.” Her mother even bought her a cash box and a receipt book so that Julie could “work on my dream.”

Fast forward to 2025, and Julie is greeting customers with a warm ambiance full of “happy feels” at her own brick and mortar on the town square as the owner of 37 South Boutique & Makery. Her store specializes in women’s fashion, home decor, classic jewelry, gifts, and personal fragrance products.

“This has always been what I wanted to do, and it’s been in the works pretty much my entire life,” said Julie with a laugh. “I knew I wanted to have a shop on the downtown square here in Jacksonville.”

“Downtown Jacksonville was booming when I was a child. It was before urban renewal had started,” recalled Julie about life in Jacksonville during her upbringing. “There were mom and pop shops all over the downtown square. My father owned an insurance company that his father had started in downtown Jacksonville. It was always fun to come and visit him, because we had so much freedom to roam around and check out all the special businesses.”

Like many American small towns, downtown Jacksonville faced dramatic changes that transformed the landscape of Julie’s beloved hometown.

“Urban renewal in the 70s happened, and our downtown just kind of fell apart,” Julie explained. “It was unfortunate because we had such a booming and beautiful downtown here in Jacksonville.”

The decline was stark and disheartening for the community.

“We had several large corporations and banks that left downtown. So, it just became more or less a ghost town,” Julie continued.

Yet, where others saw emptiness, Julie viewed the void as an opportunity on the square. In 2017, she took the leap to turn her childhood dream into reality.

“I opened up 37 South Boutique & Makery in 2017. I started in a smaller location just off of this square, hoping to eventually work my way on to the actual square,” recalled Julie. “There weren’t many businesses, especially retail happening at the time on the square, and I wanted to be one of the pioneers to kind of resurrect the small town and small business hub that it once was.

“Initially I was not a ’makery,’” said Julie. “I started out in a much smaller location, but I always had product in my shop that I made myself.” For Julie, a “makery” refers to a creative hangout where customers can roll up their sleeves to create, tinker, and learn. Whether it is a full workshop or a pop-up space, it’s all about experimenting, and bringing ideas to life.

The opportunity for expansion came sooner than Julie said she expected. Just 18 months after opening, she moved to what she considered to be her dream location on the town square, with a vision that would fully realize her concept.

“When I moved in to this location with its larger footprint, I was able to establish a store where I could create product myself, as well as host workshops for other people to come in and make product,” explained Julie.

“I thought this boutique would work, because there really wasn’t anything like it. I wanted to be a part of something that was growing because downtown was starting to grow and shine again.

“When my shop opened in Jacksonville, especially for women’s fashion apparel, there were only big box stores you could go to for something like that,” observed Julie. “People were craving small specialty stores. They wanted to have the experience of walking into a boutique and finding something unique and not having to travel to big cities to do that sort of thing.”

Julie’s approach to fashion is refreshingly inclusive, defying a narrow demographic often seen at boutiques.

“My typical customer is women from ages 20 to 90. It kind of covers the gamut. I cater mostly to classic styles that are quality, but still affordable and I have people who come in looking for gifts,” explained Julie describing her typical customer. “I have people coming in looking for new outfits or just looking to treat themselves with something special.”

Today, Julie welcomes customers far beyond the boundaries of Jacksonville. She told us shoppers make the drive to 37 South Boutique & Makery from as far as St. Louis and Chicago.

Although fashion forms the foundation of 37 South Boutique & Makery, Julie’s handcrafted fragrance candles give her business a unique signature. The genesis of her collections came during an unexpected period of forced creativity.

“What I make here is my full collection of home and personal fragrances,” shared Julie. “I started with making soy wax candles, and I actually started that during the COVID shutdown in my house. I knew eventually they were products I was going to want to sell in my shop and hopefully wholesale someday as well.”

What began as a pandemic project has blossomed into a comprehensive fragrance enterprise that showcases Julie’s skill and artistry.

“I’ve created a full collection of home and personal fragrance products, including soy wax, candles, room and linen sprays, personal fragrance sprays, reed diffusers,” stated Julie. “I have 11 product types and 15 fragrances that I all hand blend myself.”

A community transformed

For Julie, the transformation of downtown Jacksonville represents the realization of a collective vision that connects her to the beloved square of her childhood.

“Now that I see our downtown square is predominantly filled with retailers, it makes me feel especially proud, because that’s always been the vision to bring small businesses back to the hub of Jacksonville,” said Julie with satisfaction in her voice.

“37 South Boutique & Makery matters because small business is the hub of our economy,” said Julie. “I think 37 South, as well as all the other amazing small businesses we have, are so important because they create the culture of our community. We have personalized relationships with our customers, and because we reinvest in our community.

“I think it’s important to see how much work has been put into downtown Jacksonville, and all of the people who are contributing to it on a regular basis,” continued Julie. “My parents would be especially proud knowing that I am a part of keeping downtown Jacksonville thriving.”

Lessons learned, wisdom shared

Every entrepreneur faces a learning curve, and Julie’s journey has been no exception. Looking back, she offered candid advice about the realities of small business ownership.

“When I started my business in 2017, the one piece of advice I wish that someone had given me was to know your numbers inside and out, backwards and forwards,” said Julie. “You know, everybody knows when you start a small business, you start with a business plan and you need to reevaluate that business plan, probably on a daily basis. I definitely was enjoying the fun and glamorous part of owning a small business, and then had to kind of retrace my steps and get more into the nuts and bolts of it.”

Julie is not just about her own success. She wants the renaissance in Jacksonville to continue.

“It’s important for me to fill up our downtown square with lots of small specialty businesses,” explained Julie with a smile. “I encourage anyone who shows interest in starting something up, whether it would be through helping in any way that I can, or sending them in the right direction to get started.

“It’s always a mission in progress. The economy makes things a little tricky at times and owning a small business is no easy task,” Julie continued. “So, I think we are on our way to being a booming small business economy downtown. Step by step, we’re getting there.”

The heart of retail

For Julie, retail has been her calling for decades. She says she loves being a retailer because “every day you have the opportunity to do better than you did the day before. Every day is a fresh start and a reset,” said Julie with passion in her voice. “You can do better in your sales and you can do better in your customer service. I love working with customers. I love working with product. I love every facet of retail.”

“This business fills my soul, because it is what I have always wanted to do,” explained Julie. “My entire life, I’ve been an entrepreneur and a maker, and I knew that I wanted to own a small retail business on my downtown square.

“I am proud of myself and what I’ve achieved here,” said Julie. “I think back to that little girl who had a dream of doing this someday. When I walk in here and I’m doing what I wanted to do, I am very proud.”